As Sweet as it Seems
by MooMoo-Sama
Summary: Alice was her name. Her whole purpose was to make her dream a reality, but once one Charlie Bucket and one Willy Wonka become part of the picture, that dream may be a tad farther than she realized. It's humor as well, come give it a peek.


Moo: Welcome one and all! Welcome to MooMoo-Sama's newest fic!

Mewtwo: We've been working non stop..

Sesshomaru: Yes, to all hours of the night.

Erik: Now we've brought you this new story..

Moo: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

Sesshomaru: I can't say I agree with this choice of subject.

Mewtwo: To bad no one asked you

Sesshomaru: Don't tempt me to end your life.

Moo: Both of you give it a rest!

Erik: On with the story then --;;

Disclaimer: I don't own Charlie and the Chocolate factory! Also, this is based off of both movies. And this starts before the whole Golden Ticket thing.

---------------------------------

Chapter the First

In the Eye of the Beholder

---------------------------------

Well, it was interesting. Was interesting even a complement now days? Brushing the thought away the woman concentrated on her task. The small digital clock in her car showed 12:18am, far to early (or late) for anyone to be about in the town she was driving through.

The beat down Dodge Neon rolled slowly through the snow, vicious winds buffeting against it. It was packed to the max with boxes. The trunk was held down with a line of rope, its' cargo practically bursting from its' innards. The roof of the vehicle was dented in with the amount of luggage that was strapped to the top. Even with the cables holding it down, the mass swayed precariously as the car moved.

The backseat of the car was stuffed with boxes as well. These looked as if they had been opened recently. The front half of the car was a disaster un to itself. Roadmaps lay about, along with crumpled up papers of hand written directions. Wrappers of candy and bags from fast food were troubling the floor.

Styrofoam cups seemed to reign supreme. They were what lay on top of the initial layer of dirt and paper. They all had numbers on them, written in sharpie. If you were to look through the whole car, the numbers would start at 1 and the present 174 that was in her cup holder.

A young woman drove this car. She was young still, 20 to 25 at the maximum. Doe brown hair was pulled into a pony tail that dipped down to touch her neck. It was a light shade, black towards the roots and progressively getting lighter as it went on. The longest bit were the bangs that framed her face, they reached down past her chin. She had a light tan, and her face was plain. Not ugly, high cheek bones really. She was well muscled, as if she use to play some kind of sport, and still in shape.

She wore a shirt that might have been white at some point. Now any, and every, stain imaginable stuck to the shirt. Coffee, chocolate, oil. She seemed to not mind at all the fact that she was a tad on the filthy side. On her lower half was a pair of obnoxiously bright yellow pajama pants, little blue penguins dotting over them. She had a pair of bikers gloves on her hands and a pair of sneakers on her feet.

The oddity to her were her eyes. On the right was a simple light blue. Flecks of green and black were dotted in the iris. On the left was a deep chocolate brown. Flecks of gold and black mixed around in this orb. Mismatched eyes were a tad rare these days, and it seemed to suit this odd young woman nicely.

She had left home to pursue her dream about five years ago, left for this unknown destination about two weeks ago. At the present she was humming to an unheard tune and glaring out her windows into the surrounding white of the blizzard.

A small, quite gray city was her only welcome to her new home. The streets were devoid of life not even a stray cat prowled through the darkness. Each building was built wall to wall, the occasional ally in between the homes. It was large enough, and for someone who had grown up in NYC, it was as good as a suburb.

She slowed her car as a house came into view. It was a wonder for the heavens how the poor thing was standing still. It looked as if one smart breeze would tip it over. The small, one room building was leaning violently to one side. All the property around it was barren and pathetic looking, the snow making it no better.

The young woman looked on it with sad eyes. She doubted she'd ever see the poor bloke who lived there come through her doors. Shaking her head, thoughts drifted to the fact that in this day and age people still lived like that.

Shaking her head, the woman leaned over and snatched a map from the passengers seat before making a left on what seemed to be one of the main streets. This was a steep hill and the woman drove in the most haphazard way. She stretched the map before her, steering with her knees as she searched her position.

"Of course. I'm moving to the only ruddy place in Europe that isn't marked on a map."

She appeared to be speaking to herself as she crumbled the map back together and tossed it to the rest of the pile of trash.

Once again, she reached over and began to shove all the empty cups and stained papers. After a few moments she emerged with a napkin that had a scribbled address. She consulted it briefly before looking out the windshield.

A sharp scream sounded.

A massive wrought iron gate seemed to have emerged from nowhere. The woman slammed on her brakes sharply and the car shuddered and fishtailed before coming to a complete stop.

Swearing soundly, the young woman stepped out into the blizzard and jogged to the gate. Squatting down she inspected it quickly, touching the large metal bars to make sure there was no dent. Assured, she stood and walked back to her car, once again checking for any damage.

As she reached the door, she turned to curse what ever rich psycho decided to have a gate in the middle of the street. All facts aside that the gate was _not_ in the middle of the street and it would have been her own fault if she had crashed and gotten a law suit for the gate because she wasn't looking.

But I'm not going to say anything.

Completing her turn, the curses had already worked there way up her throat and that's where the procession stopped. A kind of yelping gurgle made itself known above the storm as she fell back soundly on her rear.

A factory. A _huge_ bloody factory. Jaw dropped, the young woman stared up in awe at what was possibly the most massive building she had ever seen. She seemed to ignore the fact that she was ruining her favorite penguin pajamas by sitting back in the snow, her eyes racing from the tallest tower to the doorway that sat far behind the gate. She saw the smoke that billowed out, and as she finally took a deep breath realized that the smoke smelled fantastic.

It smelt like chocolate.

Of course, one can only sit in the snow for so long before one realizes that they are sitting in the snow. And once one realizes that they are sitting in the snow, one will most likely curse violently because one has a cold rear.

So, as this one shot up from the ground cursing the creation of such a cold substance such as snow, mismatched orbs seemed to still want to take in the wonder that was this factory. She squinted into the wind, but was unable to see any insignia as to what company owned the factory.

Darting back inside her car, the woman put the heater to full blast and shoved her hands in front of it. Her nose was quickly becoming drippy and she glared again at the iron gate. After a few minutes, she gripped the wheel and put the car into gear before slowly drifting into the endless screen of white.

She drove to the eastern side of town, hoping that the shops would be on this side. Unfortunately, it seemed the East Side was the housing area, because there were no shops and only houses. Obviously. Driving back the way she came, the woman glanced at the clock again. 1: 24am.

She sneered at the gate to the factory as she drove by. It seemed that the factory divided the city in half. She mused on this as she turned down what appeared to be another busy street. Humming softly to herself she glared out to the left side of the street as she drove up it. There were several candy shops, actually quite a few candy shops.

Hitting the top of the block, she made a sharp U-turn at the sight of an empty building. As she turned she looked again at the factory. The Gate, which now deserved a capital in her eyes, was only about five blocks from where she was.

As she came to the right side of the street, mismatched eyes glared out her window as she wiped the fog away from the glass. The sight that greeted her made the young woman grin violently.

It was a small building, compared to the others around it though it seemed of massive size. _'Good.'_ she thought smugly as she looked at it. _'It cost enough, didn't it?'_. She glanced at the napkin quickly, making sure it was the same address that was carved into the bricks at the front.

A thoroughly unused air hung about it, it seemed dirty and gray in an already gray setting. It was made of simple brick, like all the other buildings around it. Two large bay windows were boarded at the front of the building, along with what she assumed was glass double doors. It was two story, the upstairs would be where she would live.

__

'Talk about brining your work home..'

On both sides of the building were alleys. To the left side was a small passage that seemed only three people wide. Ignoring it for the moment, the young woman looked to the right side. It seemed to be a driveway that led to the back of the building. Turning her small, over packed car she headed down.

For a few moments it seemed that the vehicle wasn't going to be able to push through all the snow that lay thickly on the ground. Luckily enough, it chugged slowly through the dense powder that covered the earth.

Driving forward, there was a left turn that led into a small parking lot. It needed to be shoveled and probably cleaned. The alley way was cut off from her view and if she wanted to check it out she'd most likely have to go all the way around the building. There was a small back door and as she pulled closer to it she noticed something was attached to it.

A piece of paper flicked feebly in the strong wind, the tape that held it against the metal seeming ready to give way. Instead of getting out, she stayed in her seat. She looked wide eyed into the storm, and had her gloves been off you could see her while knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

Slowly, she parked her car and turned it off. The beat car seemed to give a delighted shudder at the prospect of rest as the engine stopped its' faithful hum. The young woman sat, taking deep breaths until the exhale became puffs of smoke. She was starting to shake violently and had to close her eyes to lean back and regain her composure.

She was finally there.

A life's work was all to this moment.

Reaching absently into the back seat, she opened one of the boxes and rummaged about. The distraction seemed to catch her mind. After a minute of two she emerged from a battered TV box with a brown leather jacket. It smelt of peanuts but it was warm and comfy.

Sliding on the coat, she stepped out from the car. The wind seemed to be only a dream, brushing against her face as she moved towards the flickering note. What seemed to be years later she reached the small slip of paper. Bringing a gloved hand forward she grasped the paper and gave a tug. The tape came free easily and her eyes trailed the paper several times before actually reading it.

__

Dear Miss. Alice,

Greetings! My apologies on not being here to greet you. My family and I will

probably be in France by the time you read this. I wanted to thank you for buying this

building, because it is you who had finished off out funds. You see, for years we've been

trying to save up enough to go to France. Thanks to your purchase of the building we

have reached our goal.

__

This shop has been a family business for years and it saddened us greatly to have to close

it. The competition in the area made it very hard to get customers to say the least. I wish you the best of luck, for you are using this building for what it was meant for.

There's an alley on the left side of the shop, a dumpster it there for any garbage you may have. The trash collection is every Thursday. We've made sure that there are no vermin infesting this place, and the bathrooms are in full working order. There is a loose brick, twelfth from the bottom and three to the right. Pull that out and you'll find the keys.

Once again, I wish you the best of luck in your venture. Perhaps some day my wife and I will come back and eat here? Good luck dear, and remember that not all people like candy. It's not as sweet as it seems, they need real food sometime.

Yours truly,

Mr. And Mrs. Timothy Richards

The young woman, now known as Alice, let a grin slide onto her face. Her shaking had begun anew again but it seemed to be for a different reason. Barely breathing, she counted the twelfth brick from the bottom and third to the right from there. True to his word, the brick came loose and a set of keys was revealed.

Barely stopping to scorn the fact that the old man had left the note out for the whole world to see, she jammed a large silver key into the lock That didn't work so she tried a rusted gold key. It fit and she turned the door knob violently and yanked the metal.

The large metal door gave a groan in protest to its' movement but it opened at the woman darted through the gap. Cheeks flushed, Alice looked at where she was. It seemed this was the back entrance to the kitchens. It was a room that seemed made completely of metal. A large island sat in the middle of the room, a hanging for pots and pans over it. There were slots where the young woman knew knives would go, and hangings for oven mitts and the like.

The whole of the room was lined with some kind of object for cooking. Eight burners sat lined next to each other. Two ovens at chest height was installed into the walls. Two sinks, and another stove with a flat metal surface to cook eggs and anything of that nature. Many retiled surfaces greeted her and Alice knew it had been worth all the money to get the entire kitchen redone.

She darted through the kitchen, touching every thing in her reach. Another person seemed to take over. Instead of the easily flashing eyes, full of mischief and mirth, and bad posture. In its place stood a new woman. A woman who knew what she was doing. She strode towards the sink and let the water from both taps run for a moment. After, she went to the stove and checked each burner.

The lights flicked on and as every piece of equipment seemed to work fine, a grin once again swept the young woman's face. Opposite eyes seemed to glow with a warmth that lit the room. A small pathway led to behind a counter. Small barstools were lined up on the opposite side.

The room in front of her was barren. The only real furniture was the booths that were pushed against the windows. Breathing hard now, the woman turned back into the kitchen. Looking around wildly she spotted a staircase. Two flights of 10 stairs each later, Alice found herself in a small doorway. This time, the silver key worked.

She found herself in a small, what she assumed would be, sitting room. In the back right corner was a doorway and another on the wall facing the entrance, although a tad to the left. Going through the left door, she found a small bathroom. The tub needed to be cleaned but the water ran fine.

Alice moved towards the only room left to explore. Opening it she found, once again, an empty room. The young woman seemed to be hyper-ventilating at this point, face flushed with an ear to ear grin.

If anyone had been listening over the storm on this night, they would have heard a scream of ear-shattering proportions.

---------------------------------

A/N: Ah! What did you think my pets? I had lots of fun with this and have already started with chapter two. You wont get an update though, not unless you review!

Till next time!

Your most humble and loyal author,

MooMoo-Sama


End file.
